GP3 to modify tyre compounds

GP3 will make changes to its 2013 Pirelli tyre compounds in a bid to make them less aggressive and thereby promote more combative racing.

It plans to offer a harder range of compounds at each event, starting from the second round of the championship at Valencia on June 15-16.

A super-hard compound, the creation of which has been influenced by winter testing, will be introduced at races.

Series boss Bruno Michel said the changes have been made in order to readdress the balance between drivers being able to attack and needing to preserve their tyres.

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“GP3 races have always showcased drivers giving maximum attack whilst starting to learn how to manage the tyre degradation,” Michel said.

“After Barcelona, we analysed that we had to fine-tune our compound selection to a harder range in order to keep that balance intact.

“We are very pleased with how Pirelli work and react to any given situation – they have been quick to adapt to the situation in terms of production.”

Pirelli’s Racing Manager Mario Isola added that significant upgrades to the 2013 GP3 car had influenced the decision to adjust its compounds.

“Following the first two races we analysed the data and together with the series organisers we have decided to revise some of the initial choices, which turned out to be slightly too performance-orientated considering some of the greatly increased forces that the brand new GP3 car is putting on the tyres,” Isola said.

“In pre-season testing the teams had the opportunity to run the new car on our new tyres, but due to the temperatures at that time of year, the track conditions were not completely representative and the full potential of the car-tyre package could not be exploited.

“Now that we are four to five seconds per lap quicker than last year, and with a good amount of representative data from Barcelona, we have decided to make more use of the harder compounds for the GP3 races so that the drivers can push their cars closer to the limit but still learn about tyre management.”

Source: http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/real-world-racing/3rdparty/gp3-to-modify-tyre-compounds

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